- There is no protagonist arc. (Gilroy is "sick of arcs.")
- It's deliberately non-conformist. (No sluglines, different size fonts.)

However, it stands out to me because it is a good example of the highly coveted, highly elusive "visual" script.**

Notice how the writing directs your eye to details that make up a whole picture:

ex. "LOU

goes to the body in the car...props it into view...drapes it over the steering wheel...runs to the brush...drags the second body by the leg onto the road...positions a lifeless arm...stepping back and

LOU'S POV THROUGH CAMCORDER

as he focuses on a shot of both bodies in the foreground...red RECORD light on...fire starting...entangled cars becoming a bonfire as

FIRETRUCKS and POLICE

start arriving and"

The craft here worth studying is:
- How the writer moves your eye;
- How the visuals flow together (Lou stages the bodies --> What he see in the camcorder --> Firetrucks arrive);
- What the pictures together add up to (Lou is messing with a crime scene)

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I think a "visual" script means the script has good building blocks that add together easily.

[Quick Summary: A concierge goes on the run after inheriting a priceless painting.]

This script is dense.

It made me tense.

But look beyond...

And see multi-tasking spawned:

ex. "A second criss-crossing group of people new engage M. Gustave. This time: a very old washroom attendant carrying a monkey-wrench, the head waiter wearing an apron and waving a menu, and a woman of a certain age in a beautifully-embroidered dress with a small dachshund cradled in her arms.

WASHROOM ATTENDANT: Now it's exploded.

M. GUSTAVE: (sweetly to the dachshund) Good morning, Cicero.
(coldly to the washroom attendant) Call the goddamn plumber.

HOTEL GUEST NO. 2: (flirtatious) This afternoon, M. Gustave?

HEAD WAITER: (angrily) What in the hell is this?

M. GUSTAVE: (equally flirtatious) Without fail, Frau Liebling.
(sharply to the head waiter) Not now!"

Hackman drew on that sort of negative energy — the unshakable feeling
that he wasn’t good enough to warrant consideration — as motivation for
much of his life, perhaps starting with the moment in the street when he
watched his father walk out on him.

From p.1, this script also has that "not good enough" tone.

Mark hangs on to past victories. *Not good enough.*

If he doesn't win, he's a failure. *Not good enough.*

CREEPY FACTOR #2: INVADING PERSONAL SPACE

Another effective technique is to show physically what is going on mentally:

Mark looks to Dave to save him from this. Dave's clearly caught in the middle.

Mark looks down, closes his eyes as if in pain. Du Pont moves close to Dave, speaking to him so Mark can hear -

DU PONT: If you and I can't get him there, no one can. We're in this together.

After a long moment, du Pont moves off the mat. He starts to stretch nearby. As Dave tr to get Mark back to work, du Pont starts to JOG around the perimeter of the gym. Mark's trying to keep it together, but it's clearly driving him insane."